Chương 8
“My phone is dead.”
I handed her mine.
She hesitated.
“Mom.”
“What?”
“Don’t read over my shoulder.”
I stepped back.
“Right.”
She typed Robert’s number from memory.
The reply came less than a minute later.
Emily read it twice.
“What?”
Her eyes lifted.
“He says Adrian told him I’m not allowed to take Sophie.”
I felt the prosecutor wake up in me again.
“What exactly did he write?”
Emily handed me the phone.
Robert’s message was short.
Adrian says there was an incident and you’re not in a condition to care for her tonight.
I’m keeping Sophie here until things calm down.
Another message appeared while I was holding the phone.
Please don’t make this ugly, Emily.
She took the phone back.
Her face crumpled for just a second.
Then she straightened.
“I want to go there.”
“Monica said?”
“She said not to force anything if he refuses.”
“Then don’t force anything.”
“He has my daughter.”
“I know.”
“I have been obeying people for two years.”
“This is different.”
“It doesn’t feel different.”
That stopped me.
There are moments when being right is not enough.
I put both hands in my coat pockets because I did not trust myself not to start directing her life.
“What would make tonight safer for Sophie?”
Emily stared at the street.
After a while, she said, “Not a fight at Grandpa’s house.”
I nodded.
She wiped her cheek.
“I hate that answer.”
“I know.”
Behind us, the front door opened.
The sergeant stepped outside.
“Mrs. Westbrook.”
Emily turned.
He held a small notebook.
“We’ve confirmed enough at this stage that Mr. Westbrook is going to be taken in for questioning, and the assault allegation is being referred for charging review.”
Adrian appeared behind him.
His face had gone gray.
Celeste followed.
“Do not say another word,” she told him.
Adrian ignored her.
He looked directly at Emily.
“You’re letting them destroy our family.”
Emily’s mouth trembled.
For a moment I thought she might answer.
Instead, she stepped closer to me.
The sergeant guided Adrian toward the patrol car.
Nolan watched from the doorway.
Claire sat on the stairs with her face in her hands.
Celeste stood perfectly still.
Then David’s phone rang again.
He looked at the screen, answered, and listened.
His eyes moved to Celeste’s purse.
When the call ended, he crossed the porch toward us.
“The audit team traced the attempted deletion.”
Adrian stopped beside the patrol car.
Celeste’s fingers tightened around the purse strap.
David looked at her.
“The access came from a device registered to you.”
Celeste did not look at David.
She looked at Adrian.
For several seconds, neither of them spoke.
Then Adrian laughed once, too loudly.
“Registered to her doesn’t mean she used it.”
David nodded.
“That is correct.”
Celeste’s shoulders loosened by a fraction.
“The audit team has not concluded who was physically holding the device.”
Adrian seized on it.
“There.”
David continued.
“They have, however, preserved the login records and suspended the credentials.”
Celeste stood.
“I am going home.”
The sergeant stepped closer.
“You are free to leave unless you become part of a separate investigation.”
She looked at him sharply.
“Am I?”
“At the moment.”
Her hand tightened around the purse.
“Then move.”
He did.
That seemed to surprise her.
Celeste walked toward the porch with the stiff dignity of someone leaving a restaurant after receiving poor service.
At the top step, Emily spoke.
“Why?”
Celeste stopped.
Emily’s voice was quiet.
“Why would you delete anything?”
Celeste turned halfway.
“I didn’t.”
“You knew what files I found.”
“I knew what you claimed to have found.”
“You tried to take the drive.”
“I was protecting confidential company information from someone who had no right to possess it.”
Emily stared at her.
Celeste’s face hardened.
“You married into a family with responsibilities you never understood.”
Adrian made a frustrated sound.
“Mom, stop.”
But Celeste had finally found the argument she preferred.
“You think companies like Westbrook survive because everyone behaves like saints?”
David’s expression changed.
Not much.
Enough.
Raymond noticed it too.
Celeste saw their faces and corrected herself.
“I mean difficult decisions are made.”
“What kind?” David asked.
“I am not speaking to you.”
“You just did.”
She turned toward the driveway.
Adrian called after her.
“What did you delete?”
She kept walking.
His voice rose.
“Mom.”
Celeste reached her car.
She opened the driver’s door.
The sergeant stepped onto the porch.
“Mrs. Westbrook, before you leave, I am asking you not to destroy, alter, or dispose of that device.”
She looked back at him.
“I know what obstruction means.”
“That wasn’t an accusation.”
“It sounded like one.”
She got into the car and shut the door.
A few seconds later, the headlights swept across the lawn.
Adrian watched his mother drive away.
For the first time all evening, he looked abandoned.
The officer beside him touched his elbow.
“We need to go.”
Adrian pulled away.
“I can walk.”
He took three steps toward the patrol car, then stopped and looked at Emily.
His face was different now.
The performance had cracked.
“Em.”
She did not answer.
“Please.”
I saw her fingers curl around the sleeve of her sling.
He took another step.
The officer moved between them.
“I’m not going to touch her.”
“Then stay where you are.”
Adrian swallowed.
His voice dropped.
“You know me.”
Emily looked at him.
I expected anger.
What I saw instead was exhaustion.
“I thought I did.”
He flinched.
“You know I would never hurt Sophie.”
Emily’s jaw tightened.
“Then stop using her.”
“I’m trying to protect her.”
“From me?”
“From this.”
He gestured toward the police cars, the broken family gathering, the neighbors now pretending not to watch from darkened windows.
“You brought this into our house.”
Emily stared at him.
“No.”
Her voice barely carried.
“You did.”
Adrian’s eyes moved toward me.
There it was again.
May you like
The need to locate someone else at the center of his consequences.
“If your mother hadn’t shown up and turned this into—”
